According to a leak from a BestBuy employee, Microsoft is initiating a sort of "Anti-Linux Training" course for the employees, and those who take part in the said training are rewarded with a copy of Windows 7 for only ten dollars. The leaked screenshots of the campaign show Microsoft's comparison of its own system with an obscure "Linux" and how Windows is better in every way including security, "free downloads", and software and hardware compatibility.

So what if it does? It's just marketing, people. Besides, although it's probably way overstated, I highly doubt that there is no truth to what they are saying.

If memory serves me, I said it before: FSF should focus on getting their Free software to be Good software instead of trying to get all the software to be Free. (I am not saying it's bad, I'm just saying that it could be better.)

Worrying about a marketing campaign is pointless. Focus on creativity and positive thinking and chill! Sheeesh!

Giving people at a shop a "training" to outright lie to the customer is another thing in my opinion. To make sure they "understand" what they have to do, those people are given a "present". Sounds like those people are being "bought" by Microsoft - doesn't it?

When pharmaceutic industries are pushing their medicine using your doctor by giving him presents in order to prohibit the us of another (and maybe better) medicine you would be upset. If Micosoft is pushing their product using the sales person at the shop by giving him presents to in order to prohibit the use of another (and maybe better) OS, you say "nah - just marketing".

I think it is essential to keep an eye in the big company's (not only Microsoft) to make sure they keep behaving a little. If Microsoft is using it's (very) big weight, his big financial resources and his monopoly (yes - bigger than 60% market share counts as a monopoly) to crush even a (said) tiny 1% opposition this is certainly worrying. If this company is buying store personal to outright lie to the consumer in order to reach the goal of eradicating even the tiniest opposition on the planet, alarm signs should start ringing..

At the other hand ... it could be I had not enough coffee this morning. That's another possibility. Thankfully that one is solvable.... ;-).

MS could've picked the most shoddy, but still recent-ish distribution with a linux kernel to contrast with to produce their "results". Aren't we still debating what is "linux"? Is it the kernel, GNU utils, etc... Not trying to start a war, just illustrating the definition isn't quite determined.

Personally, I could find at least one thing on each slide that's not true (that linux *does* do that thing) with linux distributions I know of, but would be true (that linux *does not* do) on others.

Your knee-jerk reactions aside, shouldn't we be directing our reactions to Best Buy who let Microsoft in the whooshing doors? If one thing about MS is correct, is that they will always position themselves for more profit, so this shouldn't be surprising. The one contemptuous thing about MS is the $10 copy of Win7 though, yet they have exorbitant prices. The whole pirating Windows vs. pricey valid copies vs. OEM "Windows tax" on new PC's is a time bomb waiting to go off.

But if you're going to Best Buy to *purchase* Linux, then you're in a bad way anyway and you have bigger troubles to contend with. I guess this campaign is focused towards the narrow sliver of adventurous intermediate computer users that idly ask about Linux at Best Buy? I'll wait for the hidden camera videos about knowledgeable users going in there to debate the clueless Best Buy employees, the more chip-on-their-shoulder on either side, the better.

If memory serves me, I said it before: FSF should focus on getting their Free software to be Good software instead of trying to get all the software to be Free.

And how would that exactly help them to reach their goal? Their goal is not market penetration or world domination, their primary goal is just to get as many free software as possible. Any proprietary software doesn't help them, even if it's "theirs".

About a week or so ago, the FSF was in the news with windows7sins.org which is an anti-windows marketing website. It's about as distastefully hostile as Microsoft's anti-Linux marketing material. The sad thing is that I agree with the points the FSF is trying to present but the way in which they do it in a purely anti-marketing aproach rather than discussion of there own side's benefits really made me want to distance myself from it. Extremes are not attractive no matter which side they are on.